Saturday, May 05, 2007

A few months ago Cook's Illustrated magazine picked the Williams-Sonoma Goldtouch nonstick loaf pan as their top loaf pan. I wondered if it was better than my current nonstick loaf pan from Chicago Metallic. So I walked over to the nearby Williams-Sonoma store and purchased a pan. At $19, it was definitely pricier than any other loaf pan I had ever owned, but it was not an outrageous price for a baking pan. (Ahem, I'm talking about you All-Clad. I own your cookware but $85 for a loaf pan is just crazy!)

I decided to start with baking a loaf of zucchini bread. I actually really like zucchini bread and I make it all year round. It's not just something I make when my garden has too many zucchini in the summer. (Although I haven't grown zucchini in my garden for 4 years now because I got tired of fighting the battle against powdery mildew. Doesn't help that we live in the fog belt of San Francisco.)

For my zucchini bread, I adapted a recipe from The Baker's Dozen Cookbook. Since the nonstick surface on the Goldtouch pan is lighter than most nonstick finishes, the crust was a perfect shade of golden brown. The crust had a nice chew without any toughness. It was a perfect contrast to the moist, flavorful center of zucchini, walnuts and cinnamon. Now, I don't know if the pan made any difference in this case but I must say it was the most delicious zucchini loaf I've made in quite some time. Sometimes I don't know if it's the equipment, the recipe, or the baker.

To really see if the Goldtouch pan would produce a better loaf than my tried and true Chicago Metallic nonstick loaf pan, I did a side by side comparison by baking 2 loaves of banana bread. My unscientific conclusion is the Goldtouch pan doesn't make a difference. The 2 banana breads looked and tasted exactly the same.

In large bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in zucchini and walnuts. Add dry ingredients and mix until flour is just incorporated. Some lumps are okay. It's better to undermix than overmix.

Bake at 350F until cake tester comes out clean, about 50 minutes.

Cool in pan for about 20 minutes before removing loaf from pan to cool completely on a rack.

Hi! I’m Anna from Italy. I recently have discovered your blog and I find it very nice: your recipes are really interested, so I want to try some of them especially “zucchini bread” and “iced meyer lemon cupcakes” (about this: Happy Anniversaries!).But I need your help : I’d like to know how many grams are 1 cup of cake flour, 1 cup of all purpose flour, 1.5 cups of butter, 1 cup of granulated sugar, 1 cup of buttermilk, 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 cup of vegetables oil.Thanks a lot. I’m waiting for earing from you. Have a nice day. Anna

When you used to grow zucchini, did you have an abundance of it? I find in our area, it's almost TOO plentiful - and as much as I love zucchini, it can be a chore to get it all used up before it spoils in our humidity!

Gilly - We get tons of fog in the summertime and not too much sun, so I only get a modest amount of zucchini. And I like to harvest them young for cooking and salads but older for baking. I'm a total crust girl too! I always eat the muffin tops first and leave the stump.

Mary, those are great recipes for sweet quick breads. If my garden does as well as it should, i'd be happy to supply you, for free, with lots of zucchini for cooking. I'm just an hour north of S.F. & could drive your way or make you tea here. They'll be producing like mad in another month.

I live in the town that All Clad is manufactured in, so I am a big fan of the products. That said, the old adage, " You get what you pay for" is true here.........although a bit pricey, it is an investment, as you need only to buy the product once.

Hi Mary! I made your recipe for zucchini bread last night. My kitchen smelled wonderful, and the bread tasted even better, but I had one problem: it did not rise very much in the pan. I assume it's because I used a dark-colored Costco off-brand pan (rather than All Clad, which I cannot afford at this stage in my life, though I've shelled out big bucks for a Le Creuset Dutch oven...priorities, priorities). Might there have been another reason? The zucchini was grated and frozen from last summer's garden. Could that have been it?

Paula - I, too, am a huge fan of All-Clad. I absolutely love my 15 pots/pans, roasting pan, tea kettle and my AC utensils too. I agree that All-Clad is wonderful, very well made cookware. However, even though I was willing to spend $200 on a stock pot, I just couldn't get myself to pay $85 for an All-Clad loaf pan. But if someone wants to gift one to me, I will gladly accept and bake bread like there's no tomorrow!

Rebecca - From my photos you can see that mine also doesn't rise too much. I don't think your Costco pan or the frozen zucchini had anything to do with the zucchini bread not rising. This recipe is definitely less cakey (and therefore less "lofty") than other zucchini bread recipes I've tried, but I love how this bread is dense and moist without being heavy.

Mary......you should live here if you are an All Clad fan........the factory has a 40-70% sale twice a year.......hundreds of people stand in line, but it is worth it. I own almost everything they make. Unfortunately, All Clad has discontinued manufacturing the Goldware line of bakeware. Feel lucky if you already own any!

Thanks, Mary. I really like the flavor and consistency of the zucchini bread, too. In fact, the batter itself was so tasty I had to have a couple spoonfuls before it went into the pan! Quality control, you know.

The alpine strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is a cousin of the wild strawberry. It's sometimes simply referred to as alpineberry. I love to bake, cook and garden. My blog is a place to share my recipes and other tiny tidbits of my life.